CINERARY URN AND METHOD FOR PRODUCTION THEREOF

Abstract: A cinerary urn to be buried in the ground is formed by a hardened mixture containing finely divided bark and flour of corn.

Description: Cinerarv urn and method for production thereof FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART The present invention relates to a cinerary urn to be buried in the ground on interring and a method for producing such a cinerary urn. Cinerary urns of sheet metal are known, but the use thereof is con¬ nected with several severe disadvantages. Firstly, most of these sheet metal urns will after some time in the ground be subjected to corrosion and emit metals dangerous to the environment to the sur¬ rounding soil. Furthermore, chemical substances dangerous to the environment are usually utilised for manufacturing the surface layer of the sheet metal used for the urns, and these substances will as the times goes be emitted to the ground and they will at worst reach the ground water. Another disadvantage of using metal sheet urns consists in the fact that they are still in the ground during a comparatively long period of time, which is indeed desired for the reasons mentioned above, but this constitutes a great problem when interring in memory groves or on other special burial places, where it is repeatedly desired to dig at almost the same place for interring and it is then a wish to not hit upon any disturbing parts of any urn buried before. Cinerary urns of cellulose are also known, which have been pro¬ duced by bringing a mixture of wooden chips and cement to cure. The curing adhesive used comprises substances dangerous to the environment, such as formalin, which is emitted to and contami¬ nates the surrounding soil when these urns are degraded. Further- more, the nature needs a very long time to decompose these urns buried in the ground, since it is important the curing adhesive used is mixed into the wooden chips to such a proportion that the ciner¬ ary urn in question gets hard and stable, so that every risk for breaking it upon handling thereof before the interring is excluded. This means that it will take a long time for buried urns of this type to be completely dissolved in the ground and not constituting any obstacle when digging in the ground again. Even if the urn after a certain period of time will fall apart into fragments, the process for degrading such fragments will be extremely slow. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide a cinerary urn of the kind mentioned in the introduction, which finds a remedy to the inconveniences mentioned above of cinerary urns already known by being rapidly degradeable by the ground environment and at the same time being considerate and possibly good therefor, as well as a method for producing such a cinerary urns. This object is according to the invention obtained by providing a cinerary urn formed by a hardened mixture containing finely divided bark and flour of seed as well as a method for production thereof according to the appended independent method claim. Thanks to the fact that the cinerary urn according to the invention is composed by finely divided bark it will have a great tendency to absorb moisture, so that it may be made hard and stable for a proper handling thereof before the burial and it will nevertheless easily fall apart thanks to the absorption of moisture from the ground when it, preferably after drying, arrives thereinto. By the fact that the hardened mixture forming the cinerary urn also com¬ prises flour of corn, which functions as "candy" for microorganisms present in the ground, the ecological degrading of the cinerary urn according to the invention will be further accelerated, so that a short circulation time for such urns desired especially for memory groves and urn grave fields is obtained. Furthermore, a very good earth environment is obtained thanks to the bark, since bark since a long time has been used as an earth improvement agent. Wheat-flour is according to a preferred embodiment of the inven¬ tion used in the mixture and this has turned out to be particularly appreciated by the microorganisms and it leads therefore to a very rapid pulverisation and degradation of such a cinerary urn. Said mixture contains according to a further preferred embodiment of the invention a cement containing a starch adhesive, said ce¬ ment being both kind to the environment, since it does not contain any formalin, and it confers a good ability to absorb moisture to the cinerary urn, so that this after burial in the ground absorbs moisture rapidly and by that the cementing force of the starch adhesive is drastically reduced and the urn falls apart. According to still a further particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention the starch adhesive is made of a mixture of wheat- flour and water, which heavily promotes the decomposition and the degradation of the cinerary urn carried out by the microorganisms present in the ground. According to another advantageous embodiment of the invention the cement comprises also a composition containing urea, which confers a good cementing force to the cement containing the starch adhesive at the same time as urea is good for the soil and function as fertilizer. Further advantages and advantageous characteristics of the inven¬ tion will appear from the following description and the other de¬ pendent claims. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION In a preferred method for producing a cinerary or ash urn of the type according to the invention the procedure is as follows: bark, preferably from spruce and/or pine, is separated from stones, gravel, sand and other undesired objects, whereupon it is frac- tioned into smaller pieces so as to then be composted under aero¬ bic conditions. The phenol harmful to the environment is by such a composting removed from the bark. The bark is after the compost¬ ing grounded into a preferably substantially pulverised state. The finely divided bark is then mixed with coarse-grounded wheat- flour until a substantially homogenous mixture is obtained. This homogenous mixture is then supplied to a mixing vessel, in which it is mixed up with a cement, which contains starch adhesive and a composition containing urea. The purpose of the latter composition is to slightly lower the pH-value of the cement being strongly basic owing to the starch adhesive and by that considerably improve the cementing force thereof. The starch adhesive is preferably formed by a mixture of water and finely granular wheat-flour to substantially equal portions. The mixture thus obtained is then supplied to a mould, in which it is excerted to a high pressure and a high temperature for hardening of the mixture by binding of the cement and drying to a cinerary urn defined by the mould. The cinerary urn thus obtained has a good stability and hardness, so that it after that may be smoothed and after that painted in colours desired. Urns of this type are prefer¬ ably given a pot-like shape with a lid provided with a torch, a cross or a similar symbol projecting upwardly. It has turned out to be advantageous to use a proportion of 15-25% by weight of starch adhesive for a mixture forming the urn, since this amount of starch adhesive gives rise to a sufficient stability of the urn before the interring, but it does nevertheless allow a rapid falling apart of the urn once it is put in the ground to take place thanks to a tendency of the starch adhesive and the bark to absorb moisture. The proportion of the composition containing urea in the mixture is considerably, at least 5 times, smaller than the propor¬ tion starch adhesive. It is desirable to use at least 20% by weight, but preferably about 40% by weight, of wheat-flour in the mixture used for manufacturing the urn, since this proportion has turned out to constitute an opti¬ mum with respect to the combining of stability of the urn before the burial and a short degradation time of the same by microorganisms after the burial. Thanks to the wheat-flour present in the urn wall the microorganisms in the ground will start a very rapid degradation of the urn as soon as it comes into the ground. Thus, the degrada¬ tion is obtained by a combination of moisture absorption and eco¬ logical degradation through microorganisms. It could be possible to ensure that the urn falls apart into fragments without any wheat- flour therein, but the wheat-flour is needed for rapidly degradating such fragments by the influcence of microorganisms. A cinerary urn manufactured in the way described above meets the requirements of a short recycling time, i.e. degradation time, in connection with especially memory groves and urn grave fields, in which it is intended to repeatedly bury new urns at the same place, and it is also very considerate to the surrounding ground or earth environment and the ground water. Thus, the cinerary urn according to the invention will be very rapidly degraded, without giving rise to any distribution of contaminants harmful to the environment in the soil or in the ground water. Bark has since a long time ago been used as earth improvement agent, and it will in the ground under aerobic conditions together with the starch adhesive and the wheat- flour be rapidly degraded into carbon dioxide and water. The invention is of course not in any way restricted to the preferred embodiment described above, but it would be apparent to a man skilled in the art, that it may be modified in several ways without departing from the basic idea of the invention. Although it has been found to be particularly advantageous to use wheat-flour in the mixture, it would certainly be conceivable to use flour from another type of com in the mixture and for producing the starch adhesive. The proportions mentioned above of the different parts of the mix- ture could of course be varied within a comparatively broad range and a cinerary urn with good functions could still be obtained, al¬ though exactly the proportions mentioned above has turned out to be especially advantageous.

Claims: Claims 1. A cinerary urn to be buried in the ground, characterised in that it is formed by a hardened mixture containing finely divided bark and flour of corn. 2. A cinerary urn according to claim 1 , characterised in that the flour in said mixture is wheat-flour. 3. A cinerary urn according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the mixture contains a cement containing starch adhesive. 4. A cinerary urn according to claim 3, characterised in that the mixture contains a portion of flour of corn in addition to flour in- eluded in the starch adhesive. 5. A cinerary urn according to claim 4, characterised in that the starch adhesive is made by mixing finely divided wheat-flour and water. 6. A cinerary urn according to any of claims 1-5, characterised in that said mixture comprises coarse-grounded wheat-flour. 7. A cinerary urn according to any of claims 3-5, characterised in that the cement also comprises a composition containing urea. 8. A cinerary urn according to claim 2 or 2 and any of the other pre¬ ceding claims, characterised in that the mixture comprises more than 20% by weight of wheat-flour. 9. A cinerary urn according to claim 8, characterised in that the mixture comprises 30-50% by weight of wheat-flour. 10. A cinerary urn according to claim 9, characterised in that the mixture comprises 35-45% by weight of wheat-flour. 11. A cinerary urn according to claim 3 or 3 and any of the other preceding claims, characterised in that the starch adhesive constitutes 15-25% by weight of the total mixture. 12. A method for producing cinerary urns to be buried in the ground, characterised in that finely divided bark and flour of corn are mixed and a cement and this mixture are then transferred into a mould for hardening into a rigid urn. 13. A method according to claim 12, characterised in that wheat- flour is selected as said flour of corn. 14. A method according to claim 12 or 13, characterised in that said cement contains a starch adhesive. 15. A method according to claim 14, characterised in that the por¬ tion of flour of corn is mixed up with said mixture in addition to a portion of flour included in the starch adhesive. 16. A method according to claim 15, characterised in that the starch adhesive is produced by mixing a portion of finely divided wheat- flour and water. 17. A method according to claim 15 or 16, characterised in that it is coarse-grounded wheat-flour which is mixed with the mixture as said one portion of flour of corn. 18. A method according to claim 14, characterised in that said ce¬ ment comprises a composition containing urea. 19. A method according to claim 13 or 13 and any of claims 14-18, characterised in that wheat-flour is mixed into the mixture to a pro¬ portion of more than 20% by weight with respect to the total weight of the mixture. 20. A method according to claim 19, characterised in that said pro¬ portion wheat-flour is 30-50% by weight with respect to the total weight of the mixture. 21. A method according to claim 20, characterised in that said pro¬ portion wheat-flour is 35-45% by weight with respect to the total weight of the mixture. 22. A method according to claim 14 or 14 and any of claims 15-21 characterised in that the starch adhesive is mixed into said mixture to a proportion of 15-25% by weight with respect to the total weight of the mixture. 23. A method according to any of claims 12-22, characterised in that the mixture transferred into the mould is there excerted to pressure and heat for said hardening. 24. A method according to any of claims 12-23, characterised in that the finely divided bark is produced by composting bark under aerobic conditions and grinding it thereafter.

Inventors: OEBRINK INGEMAR, OEBRINK, INGEMAR
Applicants: NYA AABYFORS IND AB, OEBRINK INGEMAR, NYA AABYFORS INDUSTRI AB, OEBRINK, INGEMAR
Application year: 1994
Main classification: A61G17
IPC codes: A61G17